To Conquer the Air

by James Tobin

  the stolid Chanute: For Chanute’s strained relations with Herring, see Papers, vol. 1, Appendix IV, 649–52n. For WW’s efforts to dissuade Chanute from visiting Kitty Hawk in 1902, see especially WW to OC, 6/2/1902, Papers, vol. 1, 235–36.

  the work of rebuilding the camp: WW to KW, 8/31/1902, WW to MW, 8/31/1902, FC, WBP, LC; OW diary, 8/29–9/6/1902, LC; WW to OC, 9/21/1902, Papers, vol. 1, 257.

  “after a bullet”: WW to KW, 8/31/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  Their shelves were soon: OW diary, 8/30/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  “We fitted up”: WW to Spratt, 9/16/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 253.

  “I never saw men so wrapped up”: Remarks of John T. Daniels quoted by W. O. Sanders, “Then We Quit Laughing,” Collier’s Weekly, 9/17/1927, reprinted in Peter L. Jakab and Rick Young, The Published Writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000), 275.

  “uniform courtesy to everyone”: W. J. Tate, “I Was Host to Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk,” U.S. Air Services, December 1943, reprinted in Jakab and Young, Published Writings, 283–85.

  “a pair of crazy fools”: Wrights imitating gulls; remarks of John T. Daniels quoted by W. O. Sanders, “Then We Quit Laughing,” Collier’s Weekly, 9/17/1927, reprinted in Jakab and Young, Published Writings, 275.

  “gliding downwards through a rising current”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 133–34.

  the Wrights observed: Bird-watching, WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, Published Writings, 140; OW diary, 9/4/1902, 9/6/1902, LC. The Wrights were observing the effects of the rising columns of heated air later called “thermals.”

  “There is no question”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, Published Writings, 141–42.

  “When once it becomes possible”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, Published Writings, 137.

  Yet the glider weighed: OW diary, 9/25/1902, WBP, LC.

  “It was built to withstand”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Papers, vol. 1, 319. Peter L. Jakab points out the importance of the gliders’ sheer durability to the Wrights’ success: It allowed them to develop the art of flying through hundreds of glides, with a minimum of breakage—not to mention injury—and repair. Visions of a Flying Machine, 171.

  the brothers tested: OW diary, 9/10/1902; 9/12/1902, LC; OW, “How We Invented the Aeroplane,” 18.

  “It’s a wonder”: KW to WW and OW, 9/4/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  “You will have to get used”: OW to KW, 9/11/02, FC, WBP, LC.

  More on their minds: MW’s trial, Elliott, “Bishop Milton Wright . . . ,” 296.

  the brothers’ reactions differed: OW to KW, 9/7/1902; WW to MW, 9/7/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  “We are not going to let this thing”: KW to MW, 9/9/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  “We will bear in mind”: WW to MW, 9/12/1902, FC, WBP, LC.

  Will found himself aloft: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab, Published Writings, 134–35.

  “The machine flew beautifully”: OW diary, 9/22/02, LC.

  It simply looked more stable: Author’s observation of Engler reproductions.

  He began the morning: OW’s early 1902 glides and crash, OW diary, 9/23/1902, LC; WW to OC, 9/23/1902, Papers, vol. 1, 261; WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 135–36; OW to KW, 9/29/1902, FC-LC.

  in the path of an S: OW diary, 9/29/1902, LC.

  “just as a sledge”: WW testimony, 2/15/1912, reprinted as Appendix G, The Aeronautical Journal, July–September 1916, 121. The Wrights’ “well-digging” episodes were the first tailspins. For an especially helpful explanation of the phenomenon, see Harry Combs, Kill Devil Hill: Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979), 167–68.

  look of a sportman’s camp: OW diary, 9/30/1902, Papers, vol. 1 266; OW to KW, 10/23/1902, Papers, vol. 1, 280.

  a perception dawned: WW testimony, 2/15/1912, reprinted as Appendix G, The Aeronautical Journal, July–September 1916, 121; OW, How We Invented the Airplane: An Illustrated History (New York: Dover, 1953, 1958), 19.

  the tail should be movable: OW’s diary B, 10/3/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 269. On this page also see note 3. McFarland gives the story of Orville’s proposal over breakfast without citing a source, saying only that it was “an amusing story told by Orville Wright in later years.” Fred G. Kelly, who interviewed Orville extensively, and Harry Combs, who attributes the tale to Lorin Wright, used variations of McFarland’s version, also without citing a written source. Fred Howard, in Wilbur and Orville, 87–89, explores the confusing differences in the brothers’ later versions of what happened, and rightly notes that the most reliable source is Orville’s diary entry of October 3, 1902, which says simply, “While lying awake last night, I studied out a new vertical rudder.” Unquestionably he would have presented his idea the next morning. See Kelly, The Wright Brothers (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), 81–83; Combs, Kill Devil Hill, 168–69.

  an effort to overtake Wilbur: OC to SPL, 10/21/1902, quoted in McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 274n.

  “Langley tried the cast iron way”: OC to James Means, 5/31/1897, box 24, Chanute papers, LC. For background on Herring, see Crouch, A Dream of Wings, 172–74, 179–222.

  But on only his second try: Failure of Chanute glider at Kitty Hawk, 1902, OW, Diary B, 10/5–10/11/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 270–73; OC to SPL, 10/21/1902, box 18, RU 31, SIA.

  “no trouble in the control”: OW, Diary B, 10/10/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. I, 272.

  “You may hear some interesting news”: OC to WW, 10/16/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 276.

  “doubtless . . . got some new and valuable ideas”: OC to SPL, 10/21/1902, box 18, RU 31, SIA.

  Chanute said the Wright brothers: Chanute’s letters to SPL about Wrights, OC to SPL, 10/23/1902, 10/27/1902, 11/21/1902, box 18, RU 31, SIA.

  “as it would be exceedingly doubtful”: WW to SPL, 10/20/1902, box 69, RU 31, SIA.

  “All she needs is a coat of feathers”: Quoted in Kelly, Wright Brothers, 80.

  “We now hold all the records!”: OW to KW, 10/23/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 279–80.

  The sensations of the pilot: Author’s interview with Dudley Mead, based on Mead’s piloting of Nick Engler’s authentic Wright replicas at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, North Carolina.

  “Unfortunately, unlike many who use”: OW to Arthur W. Page, 1/30/1923, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 2, 1135–36.

  “the management of a flying machine”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 136.

  “A thousand glides is equivalent”: WW, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 137.

  To imitate the conditions: Manly’s use of “artificially produced air drafts acting on the carburetor,” Manly to SPL, 8/29/1902, Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 121.

  “goodwill and sympathy”: SPL to Manly, 9/9/1902, Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 121.

  Then came a “totally unexpected”: Manly’s propeller problems of September 1902, Manly to SPL, 9/17/1902, Manly to SPL 9/26/1902, Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 122.

  “Experiments with the Langley aerodrome”: “Flying Machine Cost $50,000,” New York Daily Tribune, 11/6/1902.

  “Mr. Chanute feels that the Wright Brothers”: SPL memorandum, 12/7/1902, RU 31, box 18, SIA.

  “especially of their means of control”: SPL to OC, 12/7/1902, quoted in McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 290, note 4.

  “It is not at all probable”: Quoted by OC to SPL, 12/21/1902, RU 31, box 18, SIA; WW to OC, 12/11/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 290.<
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  So they sketched a design: Design and construction of 1903 engine, Orville Wright, “How We Made the First Flight,” Flying, December 1913, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 40–49; Charles E. Taylor, as told to Robert S. Ball, “My Story of the Wright Brothers,” Collier’s Weekly, 12/25/1948, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 287–88; OW to George Spratt, 6/7/1903, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 313.

  “there is a very considerable analogy”: quoted in Fred Howard, Wilbur and Orville (New York: Knopf, 1987), 107.

  “We have recently done a little experimenting”: WW to George Spratt, 12/29/1902, McFarland, Papers, vol. 1, 292–93.

  “they would get into terrific”: Propeller problem-solving and design, Charles E. Taylor, as told to Robert S. Ball, “My Story of the Wright Brothers,” Collier’s Weekly, 12/25/1948, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 290; OW and WW, “The Wright Brothers’ Aeroplane,” Century Magazine, September 1908, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 30; OW, “How We Made the First Flight,” Flying, December 1913, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 41. The authoritative documentary study of the Wrights’ work on propellers was prepared by Fred Howard, later a distinguished Wright biographer, and appears as Appendix III, “The Wright Propellers,” in McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 594–640. For a thorough analysis, see Harry Combs, Kill Devil Hill: Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979), 179–86. In the late 1970s, Combs asserted that “there is no way that one can overdramatize what the Wrights accomplished in their propeller design. The idea of developing a formula to incorporate all the information they needed into an analytical form was something that would challenge a modern computer programmer.”

  “We worked out a theory”: OW to George Spratt, 6/7/1903, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 313.

  “Permit me to introduce”: OC to WW, 12/19/1902, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 291.

  “the wonderful progress”: quoted in Alfred Gollin, No Longer an Island: Britain and the Wright Brothers, 1902–1909 (Heinemann: London, 1984), 26.

  “We both liked him”: WW to OC, 9/19/1903, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 355.

  “the aviator turns”: “Locomotion aerienne en amerique,” Le Monde Illustre, 3/28/1903, scrapbooks, WBP, LC.

  “very kindly received,” OC to WW, 4/11/1903, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 304.

  “the great German scientist”: OC’s remarks about the Wrights as covered in French press, Charles Gibbs-Smith, The Rebirth of European Aviation, 1902–1908 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1974), 56–61.

  “with all due charity”: Gibbs-Smith, Rebirth of European Aviation, 60.

  “For most of the listeners”: quoted in Tom D. Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright (New York: Norton, 1989), 252.

  “With our experience”: Ferber’s letter to Ernest Archdeacon is quoted in Archdeacon’s own article, “Mr. Chanute in Paris,” La Locomotion, 4/11/1903, reprinted as appendix 4, part B, in McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 654–59. For more on Ferber’s reaction, see Gibbs-Smith, Rebirth of European Aviation, 64.

  “entirely solved”: quoted in Gibbs-Smith, Rebirth of European Aviation, 65–66.

  “It is very bad policy”: WW’s 1903 address to the Western Society of Engineers and remarks afterward, “Experiments and Observations in Soaring Flight,” Journal of the Western Society of Engineers, December, 1903, reprinted in McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 318–335.

  His detailed plan of work for early December 1902: Handwritten memo, “The Upper Shop—South Shed,” box 45, RU 7003, SIA.

  “innumerable other details”: SPL, “Experiments with the Langley Aerodrome,” Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1904 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), 118.

  “The appearance of the machine”: M. M. Macomb, “Report,” 1/6/1904, in Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 277.

  He instructed Manly: SPL’s instruction to Manly “that the initial test shall be for a voyage not to exceed something 10 or 12 minutes in length,” Manly to SPL, 6/[13]/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  Chapter Seven: “Our Turn to Throw”

  Langley began to complain: SPL’s dread of Washington heat, SPL to Richard Rathbun, 7/22/1903, box 22b, RU 7003, SIA.

  “The weather is warm, moist and heavy”: Rathbun to Cyrus Adler, 7/24/1903, box 22b, RU 7003, SIA.

  “Although plausible attempts have been made”: “Its First Flight Soon,” New York Daily Tribune, 7/16/03.

  the spectacular narrative lie: False report of aerodrome dragging houseboat, “Aeroplane Flies at Last,” New York Sun, 1/31/1903.

  Langley, in Boston: SPL’s newspaper habits in 1903, Cyrus Adler, I Have Considered the Days, 257.

  “considerable nervous excitement”: John Manly quoted in Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 260.

  Beale must have had: Beale/Manly controversy at Chopawamsic Island, “Langley Outstaying Welcome,” New York Daily Tribune, 8/5/03; “Professor Langley Ordered Off?” New York Daily Tribune, 8/8/1903; Charles Manly to Richard Rathbun, 8/7/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “the danger of misinterpreting”: “Privacy for Experiment,” New York Daily Tribune, 8/11/1903.

  “believed to be the first”: “The Langley Airship,” New York Daily Tribune, 8/20/1903.

  “this was . . . not the great test”: John Manly quoted in Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 261.

  “instantly there rushed towards us”: John Manly quoted in Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 261.

  This “entirely successful” flight: Manly’s report of successful model flight and handling reporters, Manly to Rathbun, 8/8/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “Langley’s Ship Flies”: New York Daily Tribune, 8/9/1903.

  “no adequate idea of the wonder and beauty”: Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 260.

  “The situation at the club”: Manly to Rathbun, 8/12/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “I must . . . become thoroughly familiar”: Manly to Rathbun, 8/8/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “Prof. Langley seems to be having”: WW to OC, 7/22/1903, Papers, vol. 1, 344–46.

  “bright idea”: George Spratt to WW and OW, 11/7/1902, GC, WBP, LC.

  “I am anxious to have good grounds”: Spratt to WW and OW, 2/19/1903, GC, WBP, LC. For an excellent summary of Spratt’s experimental work, see William F. Trimble, High Frontier: A History of Aeronautics in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982), 46–55.

  “till you get everything clear”: WW to Spratt, 12/29/1902, GC, WBP, LC.

  “I know that an ounce of fact”: WW to Spratt, 4/12/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “solved the mystery of the lift”: Spratt to WW, 4/15/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “the keys to the heavens”: Spratt to WW, 4/23/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “I cannot get the time”: Spratt to WW, 4/15/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “How I envy your ability”: Spratt to WW, 4/15/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “The application of the principal”: Spratt to WW, 4/15/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “I must confess I am at a loss”: WW to Spratt, 4/20/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “If one of you could be spared”: Spratt to WW, 4/23/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “Orville and I expect to go”: WW to Spratt, 4/27/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  “Hay and wheat”: Spratt to OW and WW, 7/12/1903.

  “My machine I nearly completed”: Spratt to WW and OW, 9/13/1903, GC, WBP, LC.

  the conference’s elders voted: MW’s expulsion from United Brethren, Daryl Elliot, “Bishop Milton Wright and the Quest for a Christian America,” Ph.D. dissertation, Drew University, 1992, 296–303.

  “ ‘hand-car,’ a corruption”: WW to KW, 10/18/1903, Papers, vol. 1, 366.

  In mid-October a gale: Nature and storms at Kitty Hawk in 1903, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 365–67; OW, “How We Made the First Fligh
t,” Flying, December 1913, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Publishing Writings, 40–49; OW to KW, 9/26/1903, OW to KW, 10/12/1903, FC, LC. This letter is published in Papers, vol. 1, 356–57, but without the sentence, “Every year adds to our comprehension of the wonders of this place.”

  They made scores of glides: Glides with 1902 glider in 1903 season, OW to Charles Taylor, 9/28/1903 and 10/15/1903, General Correspondence, LC; OW diary, 10/3/1903, Papers, vol. 1, 359–60; OW to KW, 10/12/1903, FC, LC; OW to MW, 10/15/1903, FC, LC; WW to OC, 10/1/1903, Papers, vol. 1, 359; WW to MW, 10/4/1903, FC, LC; OW’s diary, 10/21/03, Papers, vol. 1, 370–71.

  This year their guest: OW to KW, 10/4/1903, FC, WBP, LC.

  he would need more horsepower: Manly to SPL, 8/12/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “deeply troubled”: Copy, SPL to Manly, 8/15/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  Considerable planning and coordination: Plans for delegation to attend aerodrome trial, Manly to Rathbun, 8/24/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  the elaborate assembly procedure: Aerodrome assembly drill; Manly’s reassurance to SPL, Manly to SPL, 8/22/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “Seeing things on the spot here”: SPL to Rathbun, 8/27/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “in spite of every impediment”: SPL to Mabel Bell, 9/1/[1903], box 131, AGB papers, LC.

  But the engine would not start: Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 262.

  “without any warning”: Propeller smash-up, copy, Manly to SPL, 9/9/1903, box 45, RU 31, SIA.

  “The Usual Accident”: New York Daily Tribune, 9/13/1903.

  But the tidewater fogs: Fog ruins wings; repairs, Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, pt. 2, 262–64.

  “Every storm which came anywhere”: SPL, “Experiments With the Langley Aerodrome,” Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1904 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), 121.

  At 10:00A.M. on October 7: “Buzzard a Wreck,” Washington Post, 10/8/1903.

  Manly felt “a sudden shock”: Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, 265–66.

  George Feight, the Wrights’: Feight’s letter to the Wrights about Langley’s October failure is mentioned in OW to KW, 11/1/1903, FC, WBP, LC.